In a 2024 interview with Boston’s WBZ-TV, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healy inexplicably declared: “We are not a sanctuary state.”
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Her claim — which she continues to peddle — can only be explained as profound delusion or deliberate deception, although the latter is far more likely. After all, Gov. Healy no doubt understands that admitting her state is a “sanctuary” for illegal aliens would be about as unpopular as uttering “higher taxes,” especially in an election year.
Massachusetts is, of course, a sanctuary state, and a humdinger at that. It meets and exceeds all characteristics of one listed by the Department of Homeland Security including:
- Cities, states, or counties that have laws, ordinances, regulations, resolutions, policies, or other formalized practices that obstruct or limit local law enforcement cooperation with ICE.
- Cities, states, or counties that limit whether and how local agencies share information about the immigration status of detainees with federal authorities.
- Cities, states, or counties that refuse to honor ICE detainer requests unless there is a warrant signed by a judge.
Massachusetts’ efforts to shape itself into an illegal alien sanctuary goes way back, some saying it helped pioneer the moment for the rest of the nation.
In 2017 the Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court issued a ruling in Lunn v. Commonwealth which effectively made the entire state a sanctuary; under state law, local law enforcement officials have no authority to detain a person based solely on detainer requests from federal immigration authorities. As such, local jurisdictions in the Bay State routinely release dangerous criminal aliens back onto the streets instead of safely transferring them to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
That opened the floodgates for dozens of towns in Massachusetts to pass their own sanctuary policies, including Boston, which in 2024 reaffirmed its Trust Act that prohibits Boston police and other city departments from cooperating with ICE on civil immigration detainers. The inevitable result of this has been and continues to be criminal aliens being released into communities.
The real clincher occurred recently when Massachusetts dramatically doubled down on its diehard commitment to protect illegal aliens.
On August 5, 2026 Governor Healy signed into law a major bill deceptively titled “An Act Promoting Rule of Law, Oversight, Trust and Equal Constitutional Treatment” (the so-called PROTECT Act) which in reality offers protections for illegal aliens only. The law prohibits new 287(g) immigration-enforcement partnerships in the state, and sets forth sweeping restrictions that, as Massachusetts State Sen. Cindy F. Friedman (D-Arlington) said, “clarify that Massachusetts law enforcement have no role in aiding civil immigration enforcement.”
Or, as Carol Rose, Executive Director of the ACLU of Massachusetts giddily proclaimed, “The PROTECT Act will help to establish a firewall between Massachusetts law enforcement and federal immigration officials.”
Notably missing in the bill signing fanfare was any mention of the word “sanctuary” despite the state now having one of the most comprehensive set of protections for illegal aliens anywhere in America.
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Massachusetts’ codified protections for illegal aliens is more than enough to satisfy the definition of “sanctuary” for any semantic purist, yet for those still not convinced, the state goes one step further. They solidify their sanctuary status by offering generous rewards for those residing unlawfully in the state.
In July of 2023 Massachusetts created a honeypot of benefits for illegal aliens with two sweeping bills. The “Work and Family Mobility Act” (WFMA) grants driver’s licenses to all Massachusetts residents regardless of immigration status, while separately, legislators passed a bill allowing “undocumented students” to qualify for in-state tuition and state financial aid at Massachusetts (four-year) colleges.
Years of advancing sanctuary policies have led the state into predictable results: Surging numbers of new illegal aliens, taxpayer burdens, and crime. 393,000 illegal aliens now reside in Massachusetts, costing taxpayers $2.91 billion per year.
Illegal alien crime was so rampant in the state that shortly after being appointed the Trump administration’s Border Czar, Tom Homan prioritized Boston for a five-day operation involving ICE and five other federal agencies resulting in the arrest of 370 illegal aliens. According to Homan, a majority of the 370 were “significant” criminals. Out of necessity to maintain public safety, ICE operations are ongoing in Boston.
If Massachusetts’ extreme policies don’t classify it as a sanctuary state, then by definition no state is. Of course, that’s the illusion preferred by politicians like Gov. Healy who want to hide the policies they support that aid and abet illegal migration. Not admitting it doesn’t change the fact that the Bay State fits the sanctuary definition like a glove, as do 17 other states and the District of Columbia, in addition to 1,000 local jurisdictions nationwide.
Voters know it with certainty. Worse yet, so do illegal aliens looking for their next safe space.
As mass immigration advocates continue performing semantic sleight-of-hand to deny reality and make it disappear, management guru and author Peter Drucker’s advice is apt: “The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said.”
Dale L. Wilcox is executive director and general counsel at the Federation for American Immigration Reform in Washington, D.C.
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